Videos

The Pioneer Series: Those Who Paved The Way

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Title: The Pioneer Series: Those Who Paved the Way
Sponsored by The Creative Talent Network
CTNX09: Filmed Nov 2009; Posted April 2010
Length 45 min

Moderated by Animation Historian Jerry Beck this round table discussion with Don Bluth and Gary Goldman centers on the pioneering spirit. Hear first hand about the passion and drive that drove these great talents along with many others to break out of the cubicle and leave their big studio careers behind. Considered by many to be one of the early feature animation film pioneers Don Bluth and Gary Goldman started their studio in the garage of a house in Culver City California in 1978 during a time when there where no computers, no youtube, no email and no internet and the only technology they could rely on was their talent and imagination.

Moderator Jerry Beck:

Jerry Beck is an animation historian and cartoon producer. His twelve books on the subject include The Animated Movie Guide, Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide and The 50 Greatest Cartoons. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney, and is currently a consulting producer to Warner Bros., Universal and Disney for their classic animation dvd compilations. Beck has programmed retrospectives for the Annecy and Ottawa Animation Festivals, The Museum of Modern Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has taught animation history at NYU, SVA, the AFI and UCLA. He is the host/producer of the annual “Worst Cartoons Ever” screening
at the Comic-Con International: San Diego. …more.

Panelist Don Bluth:

Trained by the nine old men, Don Bluth is one of the original pioneers of independent animation filmmaking. As an animator, producer and director he was invited by 20th Century Fox to move to Phoenix, Arizona to co-helm the creation of Fox Animation Studio in 1994, following an already illustrious career in the animation industry dating back to 1955.

His career has brought him into contact with all categories of traditional animation, from mixing colors for Ink & Paint to writing scripts, to directing and even composing songs. He was an inbetweener and assistant animator to John Lounsbery on Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Sword in the Stone (1961)…..more.

Panelist Gary Goldman:
Gary Goldman’s first animation job interview was in February at Walt Disney Productions. He had been raised in Watsonville, CA and earned his Fine Arts degree in Life Drawing with a minor in Art History from the University of Hawaii the December before, in 1971. Three days after the interview, he was hired into their animation training program. His first assignment was as a ruff inbetweener to supervising animator Frank Thomas, on the motion picture Robin Hood.
Gary’s contributions as an animator at WDP include the films Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974) and The Rescuers (1976). He was promoted to Directing Animator for Pete’s Dragon (1977) and also served in this capacity on The Small One (1978).
Gary is a producer, director and animator who shared public recognition with his artistic partners when he resigned from Walt Disney Productions in 1979 and co-founded Don Bluth Productions with Don Bluth and John Pomeroy……more.